Children of Invention opens today in New York and Los Angeles. You know I've been a cheerleader for this little indie film for over a year, so if you're in these cities, do me a favor and check it out. In New York, it's playing a weeklong run at the newly-renovated Big Cinemas Manhattan, and in Los Angeles, it's at the Downtown Independent. Here are the basics:

CHILDREN OF INVENTION New York and LA theatrical run 3/12-3/18!

NEW YORK CITY
The newly-renovated Big Cinemas Manhattan
239 E 59th St (bt 2nd/3rd Aves)
Subway: 4, 5, 6, N, R, W to 59th St/Lexington Ave
Q&A w/Tze & Mynette on Fri, 3/12, 8:15p screening + Mynette on Sat, 3/13 and Sun 3/14 8:15p screenings
Buy tix: http://bit.ly/boBMIU
One Week Engagement 3/12-3/18

Our NY release is a DIWO effort with Dave Boyle's WHITE ON RICE. To get a double-feature discount go to: http://childrenofinvention.com/coi-wor.htm

LOS ANGELES
Downtown Independent - 251 S. Main St (bt E 2nd/E 3rd Sts), L.A.
Q&A w/Tze, Trevor & Sheila at all Sat 3/13 screenings and Sun 4:30pm screening
http://www.downtownindependent.com/
Buy tix: http://bit.ly/b314K0
One Week Engagement 3/12-3/17

And check out some of the great reviews Children of Invention has been getting:

New York Times
"Restraint proves a virtue of - and a shrewd if necessary choice for - Children of Invention, a modestly scaled, quietly effective independent movie about a struggling single mother and her two children. Directed and written by Tze Chun, making a fine feature debut, the movie offers both a familiar tale of immigrant striving and a topical look at what it means to be working and poor in America while hanging onto a badly frayed thread. Yet while the politics are there, you might be too busy choking back tears to notice." - Manohla Dargis
Full review: Full review

Village Voice/LA Weekly
"A rueful homage to American dreams both wonderful and warped." - Ella Taylor
Full review: Full review

Variety
"Urgent, Artful, and even austerely poetic..."
Full review

New York Post
"One way to judge a filmmaker is by the way he or she directs children. Take Tze Chun and his impressive first feature, "Children of Invention."
Full review: Full review

Here's also a good recent interview from The Harvard Crimson with Mynette Louie, Children of Invention's producer extraordinaire: 15 Questions with Mynette A. Louie '97.

And of course, if you're in New York, you also have the chance to see Dave Boyle's quirky comedy White on Rice, which is doing a "DIWO" joint theatrical release with Children of Invention. Hiroshi Watanabe stars as a weirdo middle-aged loser trying to get his life back together after a divorce. It's a funny movie with a great cast that also includes Lynn Chen, James Kyson Lee and Justin Kwong. For more information about the movie, as well as this weekend's screenings, go here.


Also in limited release today, Bong Joon-ho's thriller Mother from Magnolia Pictures. This is an awesome, riveting film, with a brilliant lead performance by Kim Hye-Ja. Writer/director Bong shows why he's one of the most crafty, out-of-the-box filmmakers working in South Korea today. For more information about the film, including the theatrical schedule, visit the Motherwebsite here.